There’s so much advice out there about how to find happiness and reduce stress – and to be honest, a lot of it is really vague. That’s why a recent study with some solid, practical advice really stood out: Researchers found that “cycling or walking to work makes people less stressed and more productive.”
The results of the 10 year study – which included a sample of 18,000 commuters that voluntarily tried different types of transport – demonstrated that people who rode a bike or used public transportation reported improved concentration, increased ability to handle problems, and that they felt more resilient overall.
The results make sense, since most of us really don’t enjoy long commutes. And the best part is that adding in some time walking, cycling and riding public transportation is really easy. To get the benefits, you don’t even have to totally give up your car. Instead, all you have to do is just reduce the time you spend commuting overall.
How? Here are three easy suggestions for reducing the time you spend driving:
- If you live in an area where bus or train stations aren’t close to home, try using the park and ride options. You don’t have to ride your bike for the entire commute to get the benefits – you could drive to a stop and just ride the last segment of your route.
- Take your bike to work so you can ride on your lunch break. Try cycling to a restaurant, or pack a messenger bag with your lunch and head out to a park.
- Go ahead and commute to work, but run your errands on a bike. You can always do the grocery shopping and other short trips on a bicycle after work, or on weekends.
Bonus tip: We know the weather is changing, so bicycle commuting in bad weather might not be an attractive option. But you can keep biking this season, with these “Ten tips for riding in wet weather”. Happy fall cycling!